Radio Plays
By 1954 my father ‘Austin’ had completed and published another 5 books. In 1952 he had started writing radio plays for the BBC, 9 of which were broadcast live in the BBC Midland Home Service Studios, Birmingham. One of his earlier plays was “Crime on the Sands” which aired @ 7:00pm on Thursday, October 28th 1954. Several of the actors, who played character roles in his plays, went on to become famous actors - such as Donald Pleasance (OBE) -“Crime on the Sands”, Billy Whitelaw (CBE) -“An Affair of Honour” and John Laurie -“A Pearl in the Hand” (of the long running BBC series “Dad’s Army”).
Many of the books and plays were written and broadcast in other languages. However, it was only after my mother ‘Josie’ died in 1959 that, in order to look after me and my younger sister, dad had to get a job with regular income! He couldn't very well tell the bank “he needed a loan until his next book was published”! Ironically, in 1959 I was only 13 years old, the same age as my father was, when he lost his mother.
I decided that, posthumously in memory of my father, I would get the book “Missing, Murder Suspected” into print! For the time being, forgetting about my family tree history book I had been writing, I transcribed/edited and eventually after 2 years, managed to self-publish “Missing, Murder Suspected”, which finally went into print just before Christmas 2017. This book is a ‘true crime‘ trilogy based on English crimes, committed during the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s. Interestingly, I had originally assumed that dad had written this book in the 1950’s but when editing the 3rd and last story, which took place in 1944, he referred to the death penalty having been abolished in Britain in 1965! Also: Further on there was reference by one of the defense lawyers who said “and here we are 30 years later”, which meant that the last literary work of Austin’s, was most likely written shortly before his death in 1979! Probably the reason why, this book had not been published earlier!
Many of the books and plays were written and broadcast in other languages. However, it was only after my mother ‘Josie’ died in 1959 that, in order to look after me and my younger sister, dad had to get a job with regular income! He couldn't very well tell the bank “he needed a loan until his next book was published”! Ironically, in 1959 I was only 13 years old, the same age as my father was, when he lost his mother.
I decided that, posthumously in memory of my father, I would get the book “Missing, Murder Suspected” into print! For the time being, forgetting about my family tree history book I had been writing, I transcribed/edited and eventually after 2 years, managed to self-publish “Missing, Murder Suspected”, which finally went into print just before Christmas 2017. This book is a ‘true crime‘ trilogy based on English crimes, committed during the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s. Interestingly, I had originally assumed that dad had written this book in the 1950’s but when editing the 3rd and last story, which took place in 1944, he referred to the death penalty having been abolished in Britain in 1965! Also: Further on there was reference by one of the defense lawyers who said “and here we are 30 years later”, which meant that the last literary work of Austin’s, was most likely written shortly before his death in 1979! Probably the reason why, this book had not been published earlier!
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Watch the theatrical production of Austin Stone's radio play "An Affair of Honour," performed by the Chilliwack Players Guild.
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Watch the theatrical production of Austin Stone's radio play "A Pearl In the Hand," performed by the Chilliwack Players Guild.
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